Disruptive students are a major problem in any classroom. They interfere with your teaching and other students' learning. Here are some things you can do to manage a disruptive student.

Ignore behaviors that are only minimally disruptive, such as inappropriate laughter. Focus on major disruptive behaviors, such as walking around the room.

Reinforce positive behaviors. This is especially effective when the purpose of a student's disruptive behavior is to get your attention.

Seat the student close to you. Students are much less apt to be disruptive when a teacher is close by.

Cue the student whenever he or she is disruptive. You can work out a signal with the student such as looking at the student and shaking your head once. Sometimes students don't realize that they are being disruptive.

Develop a behavior contract with the student. Keep it simple by focusing on one disruptive behavior at a time, such as calling out. The contract should include a reasonable goal for reducing the behavior (e.g., will call out not more than three times a day), and an appropriate reinforcement when the goal is met.

Use timeout only when a disruptive behavior gets way out of hand. Try not to overuse this strategy.

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